The fifth-generation Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 was a complete beast on the track and a terror on the street. That much was, is and will remain the case. But one of the car’s biggest criticisms is that it cost more than the ZL1 model it outranked, yet it offered less in every category except for performance. While some would argue that this is the only category that really matters, the reality is that folks expect to get their money’s worth when they spend over $70,000 on any car, Camaro included.
This “barebones” approach taken by the Z/28 sounded great on paper, but it also made the 2014 and 2015 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 models incredibly tough to sell. Upon launch, dealers initially added various market adjustments that boosted the already-high $75,000 MSRP. After the initial demand was satisfied, many began discounting the car to get it off the lot (those floorplan costs were probably through the roof). Yes, the racecar-like DSSV dampers and almighty 7.0-liter LS7 V8 were highly coveted, but some Z/28 models didn’t have air conditioning and/or were equipped with a single speaker. This starkly contrasted the fifth-generation ZL1, which was fully-loaded at a lower price, while also being more livable on a daily basis.
To avoid talking in circles, let’s cut to the chase: the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 was intended for those who wanted to dominate the track and use the car as a specific tool, while the ZL1 was intended for those who wanted capability at the track coupled with the comforts of a daily driver. Fast-forward to the sixth-generation Camaro, and we see a similar difference between the Camaro ZL1 and the Z28 ZL1 1LE in regard to capability and pricing. However, one major distinction between this generational comparison is that the ZL1 1LE builds on what the ZL1 already brings to the table, rather than forcing the customer to pick between being the fastest or having all of the latest bells and whistles. Hence, the current ZL1 1LE does both.
And that is a vital distinction, since the decision between going fast and going extra fast don’t also mean sacrificing all of the amenities that make a car worth driving, whether on a track or on the road. Again, some of us might want to argue that this is the entire point of building a car like the Camaro Z/28, but it really isn’t. In reality, the entire point of producing a car – like the Camaro Z/28 or ZL1 or other assortments of letters – is to satisfy customer interest and demand, while turning a profit. If that means putting ventilated seats and a heated steering wheel in your track-prepped Camaro – like the gen six ZL1 1LE does – then so be it.
For what it’s worth, it was enough to get me to pull the trigger and buy a 2018 Camaro ZL1 1LE, but that’ll be a story for the next story. In the meantime, subscribe to GM Authority (it’s free!) for more Camaro news, Chevrolet news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
The GEN 5 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 offers the best performance and has the highest sticker price than other models; but what this article doesn’t specify is whether it is possible to build a Camaro that outperforms the Z/28 on the cheap; it appears if the GEN 5 Camaro Z/28 required a lot of customization which might mean a better vehicle and there are some who are willing to pay for the Z/28 knowing that it’s price will limit exclusive availability.
There is no right or wrong just two paths.
They can build it to a historical correct path where it is a limited model that is basically a street legal race car that is expensive.
Or they can make it an up level trim package with some minor modifications and decals that sells cheaper in higher volumes,
To be honest the real challenge is to find a way that they can sell a performance coupe cheaper in greater volumes right now in just SS trim.
The serious problem now is just getting each of the Detroit the coupes back up to sustainable volumes.
The real issue is gutting these cars to make them cheaper is not going to work as people want options. The gutted cars have failed before.
Then if you load them up they complain they cost to much.
It is a tough deal in this market that has lost the love for coupes.
So right now I just hope they hit on something to that works.
Cost should never be a consideration for a muscle car
Price has always been a part of the Pony cars formula.
They used to be built on platforms that spawned millions of cars a year now they produce less than 1 tenth of that.
With higher cost and lack of utility it is hard to justify a car with limited use for that kind of Money.
Moving forward it is only going to get tougher to build a better car for less.
Budget performance cars should be a thing of the past!!! You should have to pay to own a car with serious power. With cars being designed today it makes it very difficult to buy a stripped muscle car and build a aftermarket engine on the cheap like we use to.
So now it should require deep pockets.
Why?
Because in the past the only people who had fast cars were guys with the mechanical know how to build one.
Now you just need a checking account, so the power should cost a ton.
Well we have that formula now and it is failing.
With that thinking you will only have the Corvette.
What is the solution well Detroit is still looking.
Certain people do not deserve performance cars!!! In the old days the people who deserved them were the people who could work on them. Now days very small portion of the people know how to work on performance cars today. And warranties wont let you do much anyway.
So the only way to ensure only certain people who deserve performance cars get them is to make them very expensive.
Cheap performance is a thing of the past.
You want the Camaro to sale in hi numbers? Then build a all electric version that’s faster then the ZL1.
There is no entitlement here. If you got the money will build you a car. This is business not a club..
In the old days it was who ever could afford them bought them and in those days anyone could work on them as it just took a basic set of tools. Also the price of the cars were that anyone could afford them including a high school kid that pumped your gas part time after school. He also could change the dame easily on a Saturday afternoon.
I do agree cheap performance is a thing of the past as nothing is cheap any more. Even a fwd sedan I’d over 30k today.
As for electric thatvwill take time for acceptance. Part of the hot rod feel is the sound, smell and feel of a powerful gas engine not a car that sounds like an RC toy at least yet.
Listen to Red Barchetta. By Rush and you will know what I mean.
Funny, Dodge hits on things that work. Challengers can be had from about $25,000 all the way up to $100,000. Each one is a good coupe for the price.
Most of the Challengers sold are highly discounted cheaper models built on old heavy platforms.
The expensive models sell in low numbers and are just good marketing.
In the end FCA still sold only 66k units last year which is not enough.
Don’t let the marketing fool you. At this point Chrysler has canceled or delayed any replacement.
Even Ford is looking for new ideas as 77k is not enough to sustain production.
Today to get prices down everyone needs 100k units or more.
……….until the camshafts start going flat. The epidemic of warranty claims is just now beginning.
Do you think fca will cover the, hear say, of cam warranties ?
Or do you think fca will be like gm with the z07 corvette wheels, and refuse warranty ?
Or maybe like gm with the lfx timing chains ?
Or maybe like gm with the northstar head bolt issue ?
It has been my experience with gm products, if you buy it new, gm will extend warranty coverage on a certain item ( like the lfx timing chain, and northstar head bolt issues, and others ( I have the letters to prove it ) to say 5 years and 100,000 miles.
By doing so, in my opinion, gm will cover a much smaller number of failures pushing the failure to the used buying public.
This is an ok practice, as it would eat into profit fixing all the known issues, but again, in my opinion, when the used market ends up owning , and paying for the known repair, they will think hard upon buying a vehicle new from gm.
So even if what you say will become true, it is how the vehicle manufacturer deals with the warranty that will stick with the customer or potential customer, in my opinion.
I no longer believe there is a better reliability in owning any brand, and first hand not gm.
But I would love to see any facts you can provide on this matter, to change my mind.
But ultimately, it’s still a Dodge. That’s not something to be proud of, or to boast of.
The Challenger is like the old Ford Ranger. The platform is ancient, and since there is no real incentive to do an updating, FCA (and Ford at the time) only care about selling them to square away a corner of the market; with no interest in wanting to ‘improve the breed’ or to be competitive in the mainstream if the company has to spend money to make a better product.
If you’re spending $100K on a Dodge Challenger, you’re the fool who has parted with the money.
Furthermore, if you want to know how bad FCA has it relative to the market that can drop $100K, tell me why Chrysler can’t command that kind of money for the luxury brand that it’s supposed to be.
Grawdaddy,
That might have been true at one point in history, but it is my belief that is no longer the case.
As far as an ancient platform, that might be true, but just like it has been said on this site before, the overwhelming public does not know or care what a platform even is.
If the vehicle preforms like they want and looks how they want, they buy it.
Our ATS is supposed to be a great platform, and might be on a flat smooth track, but out in the average real world of us roads it has just proven to be junk, in my opinion.
Furthermore cadillac is trying the turn around thing, still, and just like you think dodge, and chrysler is not something to be proud of, in my opinion, neither is cadillac any longer and most Cadillac models also no longer command the same money relative to days gone by.
In my opinion, Chrysler will disappear just like oldsmobile, and pontiac have.
I believe from a certain perspective the situation is somewhat the same as it was during the muscle car era of the 60’s. Looking at car options like the COPO Camaro which came with the BB L-88 427, the ZL-1 Corvettes as well as the L-88, L-89 Vettes, All of these cars came with radio/heater delete; no “bells and whistles”- just cars really intended by Chevrolet for drag racing/track use while also providing a modicum of daily drivability. And these options came at a considerable price. Marketing was still very much the consideration just as the “bottom line” always is. JMO
If the “formula” worked it would have been repeated, copied and resale value would be high; none of that happened…
I make my living off the performance cars so this is a big concern for me as the market has changed.
It once was a male dominated market on daily drivers with big engines. Then the market was split with 50/50 male female buyers. Today it is where these cars are total GT coupes in a market all about Trucks, SUV and CUV models.
There are no cheap Fox body Mustangs or second Gen Trans Ams anymore based on cheap platforms.
I have noted all the women in the Convertible Mustangs are now driving Jeep Wranglers.
With a Bronco coming with removable doors GM may need their Jeep like GMC more than ever.
Much of my customer base is getting older. The only area of youth movement is the off road people. The market is at least half all about trucks anymore.
With Ford doing a prototype suv like Mustang is telling. In fact the new Mustang coming is sharing the SUV platform.
What I am thinking is the Camaro hold may move the Camaro to the mid size Jimmy? If that is the case then the new Camaro would be on a cheaper platform with more volume.
Then as a wild A$$ idea you take a SUV version and make it Camaro like vs the Corvette idea. The Blazer is part way there but with the new platform you make it RWD based and V8.
The added volume would help lower the price of the Camaro and allow lower volumes unlike the Cadillac Alpha.
There are more details to this than I can explain here. But the point is GM and the rest of us need to be open minded about how to save this car as the old ways are failing fast and we need to learn how to do this a new way if we want to keep the car.
I agree with you there, at last, with a rwd/awd jimmy suv with more power than the 3.6 or the 2.0t.
And I will be in line to purchase it.
And im not saying the c1 platform isn’t great, all i’m saying is, with the jeep, bronco, and lincoln aviator, gm needs a rwd/awd platform vehicle, yesterday.
That’s a lot of market, and well more than this camaro thing, and I own a 68 camaro, so would love to see it stay.
However I will not buy a new one, but maybe one of my sons mite, but right now, both are shooting and dreaming tesla, so that’s how that goes in a 13 and 25 year old mind.
Gm has nothing for them to even dream about.
What car did you dream about ?
Did you end up with it ?
Its like that.
In my opinion.
Fellow scientists: May I re- introduce the Plymouth Road Runner as a marketing tool that worked then and would still work today relatively speaking?
The original RR was a two door taxi with a 383…Stop. The Hemi was a fortune to order but it was available ala carte, which let America’s entire class of 68 go drag racing, with either engine and a four speed, no A/C no power anything. They were perfectly marketed, in my opinion. They were everywhere. The MSRP was not fake, you could find base models everywhere on dealers lots without two pages of mandatory options. Not now. Muscle cars ruled because we could afford them.
That would be nice but it is no longer 1969.
The issue is the way the market is that is not doable.
The Road Runner was based on a platform that sold over a million units a year in various models. We no longer have that in a coupe or sedan anymore in RWD.
So today the profits are focused on the options not the platform. Base cars make little money. Also cars with many options available outside packages cut into profits.
Case in point. Why did most car companies just go to all power windows and tilt wheel. Well it was cheaper than offering the alternative or so th3 head of the FBody program stated to me.
I agree the performance cars being affordable were key but today there is little to base them in other than a truck that holds any volume.
FWD sucks for over 300 hp as I had one and no traction.
AWD is nice but then again cost.
Then a fickled public that mostly buys loaded vehicles today and the automakers who want that so they make money.
The parameters just are not the same so history would be difficult to repeat.
Same on adding a Firebird to the Camaro line. It mostly would rob Camaro sales an$ you might pick up 20k sales fixing nothing.
If this were easy to solve an automaker would have done it by now.
The last cheap performance car was the Fox body based Mustang once that left us while we got better cars we got the price tag to go with them.
The 5th gen Z28 was a purpose-built race car, somewhat akin to the ’67-’68-’69 L88 Corvettes. These cars were never intended to be street-driven, but rather bought to be prepped for racing. That’s why the L88 offered no heater, no radio, no power windows, nor any other ‘creature comfort’ options. Same with the 5g Z28, except Chevy would grudgingly allow AC and a better sound system, but those options had to be special-ordered.
None of those cars were expected to be big sellers, but rather insure a Bow Tie presence in various motorsport competitions.
4 me: The “Price” of the Camaro is on the (back burner)! The “(beginning design is top priority 2 the exact path for any model camaro)”! They should “look back” on the [previous types] to do design-build’s for the next (prototype) 2 keep the “pubic’s interest”; or the Camaro will surely die!
GM has a bunch of LS7’s leftover that were never used in Z06 or 2013 427 Convertible Corvettes, so they came up with Z/28. Oppenheiser and company decided to go with the all out track day car, complete with 60 tread wear Pirelli Trofeo R’s. The car was over priced, but possibly part of that was on purpose? By pricing it so high, you discourage some people from buying it to drive everyday, which was better left to the more powerful and less expensive, LSA equipped ZL1.
They could have and probably should have offered 2 different Z/28’s. One would be the “track” car as they did, the other a “427” themed car. Both with LS7/manual only but different packaging completely.
One other factor to some…..the LS7 had been around since the introduction of the 2006 Corvette Z06. It was somewhat old news by 2014 and if you wanted an LS7 powered track car, there were plenty of used Z06’s to choose from.
Change long overdue , Camaro needs to be a street rod like the Challenger and Mustang . These offer amenities like a useful rear seat and visibility .The Camaro is simply a race track type for one or two people only , with crappy visibility and not a friendly vehicle for street use . GM already has a sports cars and , no doubt , the new Corvette will steal a bunch of sales from Camaro !
I am so happy to see your post. The Camaro design is one of the worst of any GM car on the road. Yes it is fast and handles great. Bang for the buck, but could they change that body style. I could not see out of the car. I wanted to buy one but it in not nice inside and way too dark. Make it a retro 1970 . One of the best cars GM ever made. I loved mine.
GM and the dealers ripped off customers until there were very few left!!!!!!! They did the same thing to the C7 Corvette, and have thousands sitting on dealer lots………When you have a great car like the C7, and especially the ZR-1, price it right instead of TRYING to make it an “exclusive” by charging thousands more than it’s really worth!!!!!!!!
First off the Camaro sales would still be struggling even if it were a different design. There are still plenty of fans of the car but just not as many that would spend that much for a l8mited use car.
All three of these cars are now a the kind of car you buy if you are single or for a weekend play toy. In the past even a Mustang could be used as a small, family car.
The real issue is limited sale GT cars are not cheap and the big three don’t have cheaper RWD platform to base one on.
Also many have this crazy idea that you can’t drive RWD in the winter? Th3 truth is that is all we used to have to get around with even worse tires and we did fine.
Times just hav3 changed and the formula just is not there anymore.
All these cars were killed before and are at risk again. No I do not count the Mustang 2.
That is true with the rwd cars of yesteryear, however the weight of those vehicles on average is almost twice what it is today.
We tried two winters with our 2004 cts, but ended up getting a 2005 rwd/awd srx to use in the winter and use our cts in the summer or when possible.
And always owned a truck or in todays world a hd truck for when you simply can not go without ground clearance.
It is also one of the reasons I cant wait to get our new 202 hd so that snow catching def tank is gone.
all they did wrong was no option for T-Tops like all Z28s had and the msrp of 70,000. engine Ls7 427, track suspension was the best thing that Camaro could have done. Ls for life not Lts.
The Cameros are too small and there is no room inside.
There not supposed to be huge inside.
I hate what people want the Camaro to be!!!
The Camaro needs to focus on being lighter, faster, more agile.
Why buy a 70+ K Camaro when you could have had an outgoing C6 Z06 for not much more?